Comfort
by TheHunter747
Summary: Cloud is upset about Aerith's death, and Vincent offers his support.


A/N: Oddly enough, I was listening to Cheryl Cole's song 'Call My Name' on the radio when this plot bunny appeared in my head. Oh well. This can take place anytime after the group has gone to the Ancient City with Bugenhagen. Oh, and after Cloud's shattered mind got pieced back together again, so yeah. Make your own timeline out of that. Oh, and Vincent and the others have swung by Lucrecia's cave in this.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~CLOUD~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The bonfire in Cosmo Canyon was beautiful, Cloud reflected wistfully, remembering that the last time he had looked into it's flames, he and Aerith had been talking about her plans to open up a flower shop after this was all over. He had promised to help her make deliveries to far away or dangerous places, and she had laughed, saying that she would never have anything to fear if that was the case.

The group had stopped in at Cosmo Canyon at Nanaki's request, as he was concerned for his grandfather's health. Tifa, Barret, and Cait Sith had headed off to restock their supplies, Yuffie was off 'procuring' some gil, Cid was checking out the tea selection-and probably smoking up a storm, Cloud mused- and as for Vincent, Cloud honestly had no idea where the mysterious, brooding gunslinger was.

"Are you well, Cloud?"

Ah. Well, that answered that question, thought Cloud, as Vincent sat next to him.

"Um...yeah. I'm fine, I guess. You?"

"Why do you ask?"

"Well, what with us all finding that cave, and then you turning into Chaos, I just thought..." Cloud trailed off, uncertain how to complete the sentence.

A slight smirk formed on Vincent's lips. "That I would become an emotional wreck?"

Rubbing the back of his neck, Cloud stumbled over his words for a moment. "Well, I mean, not a wreck, but, y'know..."

"I understand, Cloud. You have suffered the same loss as I have, and barely made it through the situation."

Oh, damn Vincent to hell! How did he know Cloud had been thinking about exactly that?

"Not to mention the fact that not too long afterwards, you fell into the Lifestream, and regained your own memories and self-identity once more."

Why did Vincent know so much? It wasn't fair, Cloud decided, before realizing how childish his thoughts sounded.

"Yeah, well. I had something to keep going for, a reason to fight past all that stuff."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. When...when Aerith died, I promised myself that no matter what happened, I would stop him. Sephiroth, I mean. No matter the cost to myself, I would make sure he paid for what he had done. That promise... no matter what the Planet threw at me, I kept remembering that promise, and that kept me going."

"A goal is an...admirable thing, Cloud. But you must be careful that your goal does not become warped. Or rather, the means you use to achieve that goal."

That was odd, Cloud thought, Vincent almost never said anything, least of all gave advice. So why was he doing so now? Had something happened in his past that caused him to think this way?

"Um, Vincent?"

"You wish to know why I ventured to give advice, when I keep to myself normally, yes?"

And the old Vincent was back again. "Uh, yeah. If you don't mind, that is?"

"Very well. You see, I did not become a Turk of my own free will. Though it may surprise you, I was once a rebellious teenager myself, and as such, I began to fall in with bad groups, and eventually began stealing larger and larger things. Unfortunately, I decided that stealing official Shinra documents was a good idea. Veld and the others hunted me down, and when they finally cornered me, were about to kill me. Except Veld. He seemed to have been impressed, and so offered me a choice-die there and then, or sign my soul on the dotted line, and become a Turk."

Here, Vincent paused, intently staring at the fire, as though it were a screen, and his memories were playing out on it in front of him.

"Once I became a Turk, I was assigned to guard duty in the labs. There, I met Lucrecia for the first time. Hojo, however, didn't take kindly to me. As such, I was almost never assigned to the labs. However, I and Lucrecia had already begun to develop a romantic interest in one another, and so I decided that to get to see Lucrecia, I would have to climb the Turk hierarchy, until I could assign myself guard duty in the labs. It took seven months, and several tens of innocents being killed, but I finally made it to Second-in-Command, and began taking more and more shifts at the labs. Around the same time, I learned that Lucrecia was only a couple of months away from giving birth, and so I swore that no matter what happened, I would protect her and the child. I seem to have failed rather miserably in that regard, however. Lucrecia dead, and I hunting her child."

Cloud sat there in stunned silence-he was probably the only living person on the Planet besides Vincent himself who knew this, now.

"I killed nearly a hundred innocent people, Cloud, and all so I could be together with the woman I loved. And after all that, I lost her again after only a few short days. The means I implemented to achieve my goal were completely wrong, and it came back to haunt me. Do not allow yourself to become obsessed with nothing more than base revenge, Cloud. It will destroy not only you, but everyone around you, as well."

Vincent lapsed back into silence, seemingly content to stare into the fire again. Cloud joined him in his silent vigil, mulling over all the new information he had about Vincent. After a while, he decided to speak again.

"Vincent?"

"Hm?"

"Thank you. It... it helps to know that, no matter how bad things get, I can count on the people around me to support me. I value the friendship of everyone in this group immensely, Vincent. So...thank you. For helping me, and for sticking with us to the end."

"You are welcome, Cloud. I value you as my friend and ally, also."

The two warriors sat together, staring into the flames for the remainder of the evening, before heading into the inn to rest.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~VINCENT~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A/N: I honestly love to see interactions like this between these two characters. They are by far the most angst-ridden characters Square Enix has ever created, and to see them interact together to get past some of that angst is brilliant. Anyway, you know the drill, you've read it, so be polite and review it! Also, I don't own these characters, so don't sue me! Would only get an empty crisp packet, anyway.


End file.
